Saving the Day
by ThatOneGuy8700
Summary: Basically my story "From the Grave" retold through Elizabeth's eyes. Hope you enjoy.
Saving the day

HI, my name is Elizabeth Skylark.

I live in a magical place called Sacred Grove, hidden from the rest of reality. Sacred Grove is made up of nine 'realms' each with its own "personality." These are Briarwood, Seaside, Sunstone Valley, Blackspore Swamp, Sanctuary, and the small towns of Merry Vale, Wugachug, Snowhill, and Shrouded Glade. (In no particular order.)

My uncle, Nathanial Starwave has been missing five years as I write this. And his son Dominic and I used to be roommates until he moved out over an argument we had over Uncle Nathan. Recently, my best friend Kailey Firehouse was helping me plan my own party for the upcoming Snow Days festival. I heard a knock on the door and, thinking it was her asking if I was coming to hers that night to sort a few things out I abruptly said.

"Kailey I told you I'm coming to…0h." I said as I opened the door and discovered it was not my friend standing on the doormat, but my cousin.

"You know, after Uncle Nathan left things got really deep." I said, and as he heard this he put on a very blank look, like he always does when he's thinking.

"Well fortunately I'm not here for sentiment." he said, unsurprisingly.

"Then why did you come?" I asked, a little eager to get back to my work.

"To pick up a few relics I think will be of use. He's finally popped up again and I'm going after 'im." He then said, very much to my surprise. I guess he could tell I was about to catch a fly in my open mouth, so as he waltzed right in and headed for the basement, he elaborated.

"Alright, you know how messed up the postal system's been lately? Well when Josh…"The man that could've been Dominic's brother."…went to Wugachug to pick up a good keg of chugaroot soda for the festival, he brought back a letter addressed to me from Mayor Caroline Rose in Blackspore. Depicting that the entire swamp had been taken over by dark manna, and that my father was wrapped up in it."

As he explained this, I noticed the logic in what he was grabbing. Blackspore Swamp is home to many breeds of venomous toads, so he swiped a swamp saddle. The place is also home to many of Sacred Grove's graveyards, so he took a life-trap in case a grave elemental snuck up on him.

Then I thought. Dominic, alone, in the middle of the swamp, surrounded by dark manna! Acting on instinct I used a _rooted_ spell to practically staple him to the floor.

"You didn't think you'd be going alone. Did you?" I asked rhetorically.

"Actually, I did. I'm sure you've trained hard to perfect your skills and spells, but I _am_ going alone." At this I concentrated a little harder, and the plant roots at his ankles tightened.

"I'm going to see my uncle, evil or not, or you lose your feet." I declared. He then gave up, we gathered a few more things then headed out on what might've been a day's journey. (Not including stops.)

"So who's Kailey?" He asked as we were about half-way there.

"Kailey Firehouse. Longtime best-friend, red hair and green eyes to my brown and blue, wears the best outfits." He gave a short grunt of approval and we walked the rest of the way in silence. When we reached the small ground-level tunnel leading through a long mountain range to the dark swamp, we stood for a moment in awe of what was in front of us.

The moss that had been growing on the cave walls for centuries had turned gray from life-drain. Then I saw it. The largest, darkest cloud you've ever seen.

"Whoa." Dominic said, taking one large, ignorant step forward. Here's that instinct again, I thrusted my hand forward.

"Hold it!" I shouted. Then I quickly pulled out the thick, brown-leather journal in-which I record everything I learn from my wizarding mentors. As I flipped through the pages I put my finger on a spell, then shouted it out loud.

"Sutcetorp suria!" And once the words had left my mouth, a bubble of the very light around us began to refract, and solidify into a movable force field.

I then looked up and saw my cousin's mouth hanging wide open. "Double whoa." He said, amazed, his voice slightly echoing in our new bubble.

I smiled and said "I've been practicing." I then realized I sounded a little too proud.

"I can see that!" He exclaimed, still astonished.

Surprisingly, there wasn't any trouble going through the entrance. I at least expected some infected town residents to be enraged at our very presence.

Anyway, as we exited the tunnel the light from our force field passed over the Blackspore warpstone that used to teleport people across realms, now disabled and shielded thanks to a light spell its original creator had cast. I saw him hold his hand out in front of his face and try to get a good look at it.

"The Sanctuary public records said there wasn't much difference between night and day, but this is ridiculous!" He exclaimed.

I then remembered how clever I was and said, "Lucky for us, I swiped a wish compass as we left." I then reached into one of the pockets on my baggy jeans and pulled out a small iron dish with a red needle in the middle, held it up to my mouth, and said "Cracked claw Caverns.". The red needle started to spin round and round, slightly glowing until finally landing on a certain direction I was confident would lead to the location I had specified.

A couple minutes later, in the light of our force field, Dominic looked over at me with a reluctant look, and said, "You know, I don't really trust wish compasses. Maybe we could adjust the warpstone to…"

"It's disabled remember. And no one knows the incantation to take down that shield because the sorcerer who set them up died years ago. Besides, it's a smart spell going by the logic that as long as there is dark manna anywhere near that warpstone the bubble stays up." I said abruptly at first.

Then he caught on, and said, "Because if the shield went down and the magic enabled the dark manna would seep through everywhere else. I understand now."

But just as he had finished his sentence, a grave elemental seemingly appeared out of nowhere and rammed the force field from the side. For me this actually hurt because to shorten a quite lengthy explanation of magic, when I use manna, I project my being outwards in some way, shape, or form.

The shock from the hit rattled Dominic backwards, he fell hard on his bum. He stared at it for a good long minute, until finally using a life trap on it.

 **Grave Elemental**

 **A Grave Elemental is a tortured, or disturbed spirit that emerges from its grave to attack any "annoyances" in sight.**

"I hate those things." I said in calm disgust as we moved on ahead.

"How many times have you been here again?" Dominic asked as he gathered his wits.

"Several. You know, if you really don't trust wish compasses, I could split the field so you can find your own way there." I suggested.

"Are you serious!? I'll go insane on my own. That's why I have five pets." He exclaimed, surprising me again.

"You, pets, really?" I asked, curious.

"How else do you think I keep from losing it in a great big house with three empty rooms?" At this I was even more disgusted than at the Grave elemental.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe surf into the nearest town and talk to people. Maybe get a job!" I shouted, feeling the wetness under my feet as we stepped through a rather large puddle into the entrance of Cracked Claw Caverns. We both stared directly in, for no apparent reason, as it was too dark to make anything out. I quickly remembered a spell that just might've done the trick.

"Iblwo Ibthgis!" I shouted, and in Dominic's eyes, and mine the entire cave lit up like a Snow Days tree. But now came probably the most painful moment of this journey.

"Could you extend the bubble about fifty feet?" He asked.

"Okay, I know it's been a long time. But using that much magic at once is going to make me scream." I said dead-seriously.

"Trust me, it's worth it." He said, with a suspicious grin. So I closed my eyes, and gestured my hands in a pushing motion towards the edge of our force field. Now was his time to strike. He took out the swamp saddle from his backpack, ran towards a toad, and slapped it on. He then reached into his pocket to grab a duplication relic. I was beginning to howl so he knew he had to act fast. While the swamp saddle did its work making the toad nice and happy, he tapped him with one end of the duplication relic, and the stone below him with the other.

From the stone, a new toad formed, complete with its own saddle. Dominic quickly herded them over back to me before I collapsed from exhaustion, and pain, and then the force field regained its original shape. I tried my best at standing, and fumbled out, "That…was exasperating. And it drained me a lot."

"But I told you it'd be worth it." He said, still confident in his statement.

"And you lied." I said, coughing a little. We then both climbed on. I was feeling so relieved to not use as much strength for a while. As we ventured on we passed a cluster of crystals protruding from the dark walls that still glowed in the dark of this evil place. The whole place seemed a bit empty to the both of us, especially me. After another couple minutes, we heard what seemed to be a very distressed voice crying out.

"Someone, Anyone, help!" We heard. That voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"I'm coming!" Dominic shouted ignorantly, and sped up his toad toward the voice leaving me far behind, and leaving the force field behind so it only protected me.

"Hey, what about me?" I shouted after him.

"Yeah, her too." He said annoyingly. My little stone toad was slowing down, and I was about to weakly get off to walk, when I noticed something. Cracked Claw's throne room was shielded off just like the warpstone.

"You there. Human girl." He beckoned. I was utterly disgusted at the sight of him. He looked like some mage thought it would be funny to fuse a human and a crab. Unfortunately however, the cray were a freak of nature. This particular cray thought himself a king, and had servants all around the room, ready to tell him "You're wish is our command sire."

"Cracked Claw." I said in a half disgusted, half exhausted tone.

"Come forth, I wish to speak with you. You humans have no business in my cave."

"Look, if we don't stop the dark manna, everything outside you're little hidey-hole will die."

"Well it seems like we have a situation here." He said in a suggestive voice, as if to say "I want to make a deal." without actually saying it.

"Already accounted for." I said. I reached my hand up to the strap of my backpack to pull it off. Claw and his servants could only watch in abject curiosity, as I retrieved and untied a large sack. I then threw it through the shield to the throne room, and it spilled out light crystals, fish and glass bottles of fresh-water by the dozen.

"Take this as a gift and the deal is settled. Nothing for us but freedom." His servants immediately began digging into the fresh food. And he gave me a confused and defeated look. I hurriedly climbed back on my toad to catch up with Dominic to see what was going on on his end.

"Dominic?" I asked into the dark, fearing the worst.

"Yeah Liz. I'm here." He said. Then I heard a rough tumbling noise as he collapsed to the ground. By this point, I had regained my lost strength from earlier. So I got off my toad, only to see it crumble into bits from its own lack of strength. And I ran.

I ran as hard and fast as I could, only to find Dominic lying on the ground like a bump on a log. He was still breathing though, so that was a plus. He was covered head-to-toe in dark manna. Commonly, there are two ways one can be effected by dark manna. One: you turn into an evil-crazed, hyper-intelligent zombie. Two: you die. I had to act fast as it has to reach the heart for either one of these happen, let alone become permanent.

"Oh come on little cousin, stay with me." I said trying to comfort myself that I could save him. I took off my backpack once more, pulled out my spellcasting journal, and almost tore it apart looking for the medics section. (Page 526? really?) The most important spell I had recorded was in the middle of this section, the spell to drive out dark manna. I raised my hand over him, and opened it. The palm of my hand glowed pure white in preparation to cast the spell.

"Live tuo evird, wosh tirips tel, live tuo evird, wosh tirips tel!" And as I chanted, the black ooze covering his body began to fade away. But when it was done he was still knocked out cold. I noticed his toad munching on some purple mushrooms on the cave walls. "Well hey there big fella. How'd you survive?" I fruitlessly asked the slimy being. I struggled to pick up my unconscious cousin, (Man he's heavy when he's sleepy.) and prop him up against the content toad. "Keep him safe." I whispered to the beast.

Then I noticed Dominic had fallen right next to the entrance to a larger part of the cave. I walked in and was quickly greeted by… nothing. The darkness led to a black abyss. I guessed if this led to Uncle Nathan I had no choice. I jumped in.

I woke up what seemed to be hours later in an identical room. There was a shrouded figure standing over me.

"What happened?" I asked groggily.

"Why you fell asleep Lizzy bear." A familiar voice said in a degrading tone.

"How long?" I asked without knowing who I was talking to.

"Only a few minutes. Rainleaf soup?" He asked. Suddenly, the whole scene changed, and I was back in my bedroom. Uncle Nathan sat at my side holding a bowl of Rainleaf soup.

"N no, no, what happened to the swamp? The dark manna, Dominic?" I sat up in bed as confused as could be.

"Whoa that must've been some dream you had sweety. Everything's okay. Dominic's outside playing swords with Josh. You want some soup?"

"No thanks. I think I need to go back to sleep." I said, tired and confused. As I lay back down, I felt very heavy. Then, reality kicked in.

"So that's what you're dreaming of these days." The real Uncle Nathan said as I fell to the floor. "Me." I almost wanted to run up and hug him but that was for later, when he wasn't evil.

"How could you do this?" I asked, trying to get him monologuing so I could reach into the pocket in my boot, grab my wand, and knock him out with a lightning strike.

"Do what Lizzy? Leave in the _dark_ of the night without your consent only to have you grow to be a magnificent young woman? I intended to find a way of making honest money so I could sustain us like a good father should. What I ended up doing was spinning myself a web from which I could not escape. 'Step into my parlor said the spider to the fly.' And now, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it'll hurt you." he said as manifestations of my worst nightmares began approaching me.

"Oh that's for sure." I said as I quickly pulled my crooked silver wand from the pocket in my boot, jumped into the air, fizzled all of the shadows that would've grabbed me and done who knows what. Landing next to Uncle Nathan, I zapped him with a harsh but gentle shock to the head. He fell softly to the ground, and suddenly I could see again. Everything still looked dead and gloomy, but for the first time it was clearer.

I had to perform the spell on him before it was too late, however for all I knew he had been this way for years. Irrelevant. I still had to try. I stood over him, and recited the incantation from memory.

"Live tuo evird, wosh tirips tel, live tuo evird, wosh tirips tel!" The dark manna left him, and he was back to sort of normal. (Normal, but older.) I soon discovered my predicament: I had two unconscious relatives that I had to lug out of a cave, then out of a swamp, then all the way into town to the clinic.

"Oh brother." I sighed to myself. Then something Dominic had said earlier rang through my head.

"Maybe we could adjust the warpstone…" The warpstone! I could warp us out of here! All I needed was one of the crystals from the cave walls. I could modify it to interact with my shield, put all three of us inside said shield and think about Lakeshore Town Clinic.

"Dominic? Dominic?" I asked fearing he'd be in a coma for the rest of his life. To everyone's relief, he picked his head up and made a "Huh?" kind of sound.

"What happened?" He asked as he saw me, Uncle Nathan, Josh, and the nurse all standing at his bedside. It was about two days later and they were both back up to full bills of health.

"Lakeshore Town Clinic." The nurse stated plainly, leaving the room.

"What about the dark manna?" he asked attempting to sit up.

"The Sorcery High council has quarantined the area until they've figured out what to do." Reassured Uncle Nathan, putting a hand on his leg.

"I'm just glad you're safe son. When I left all that time ago, I left to get more experience, to better my understanding of things so I didn't have to cheat people out of their money." He explained.

Then Dominic said, "You'd be proud of what I've done with the farm while you were away. We've got a lot of catching up to do." And we did.

 **The End**


End file.
